Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1887-03-19
THE GREAT NAME.

THE GREAT NAME.
The Mystery Surrounding Four Letters
Witch Only the High Priest Could Pro.
nounce.
Home Journal.
Once each year, on the day Of Atone
ment, while the Jewish temple at Jeru-
salem remained, the high priest was &C
customed to pronounce upon the bowed
and awe-stricken multitude of worship
-ers the blessing which contained the
amysterious name of God. On no ether
occasion, and from the lips IF no other
person, could this name be spoken, and
when the sacred city fell before the Ro-
man armies, and the temple itself was
lrazed to the ground, the ceremony like
swise persisted and the name was lost.
A peculiar interest in this extraordin-
AIRY name has always been evinced by
scholars and antiquarians. There is some
thing in the mystery that surrounds it,
that appeals alike to the strict religion
: ist and to the investigator whose only
motive is the desire to explore the relig-
ion of the obscure. What was this name
that could not even be pronounced with
out blasphemy, and which has in
consequence passed away from the
knowledge of mankind?
AS is well known. the consonants of
the name are JHVH or YHVH; and
since the time of the Hebraist Galatinus
the popular usage has been to pronounce
it Jehovah, following the example of
that scholar. Yet no one believes this
TO be in any way correct, and the inge-
nuity of hundreds of commentators has
been taxed to restore the original vowels.
The name itself, however it was primar-
lily pronounced, is one Of marvellous an
tiquity. It is derived from verb, but
was almost forgotten in the time of
Moses, and it's origin is absolutely lost
in the mists of our antiquity that makes
the pyramids seem insuficiently mod
.ern.
1t was the essentially national name
given to the Creator by the Jews-the
name by which they thought of Him in
the privacy of their own homes, in the
presence of their own altars-too sacred
to be spoken, save once each yer, and
by the lips of the consecrated priest of
the Most High. So hsdged about was it
with reverence that the Rabbins do not
even dare to write about it, but allude to
it mysteriously as "The Name" or "The
Name of Four Letters" in which the
sSamaritans likewise follow them.
Yet, although it seems so wholly Jew
ish, some of the most singular coinci-
~dences are to be found in the usage of
other ancient languages. In the Chi
nese, some thousand years before Christ,
there are illusions to "name Of three
mystical letters, IIIV' dsnoting that
which none can comprehend. Among
the Phnnicisns the name had equal rev.
erence; the Greek writer's speak of the
H.great name" which they inperfectly
give as IEUO or LAO; and an inscrip-
tion in the adytum by the temple of Isis
at the Egyptian SAILS recalls the same
dread tetragrammation. 1t would seem
almost as though this were the title by
switch primeval man was divinely taught
tovosehip bis Creator.
As has been said, the name, 80 far as
can be learned, has never been pronounc-
ed since Titus destroyed the temple at
Jerusalem, A. d. 20. Whether before
chat time it was never in any way fully
committed to writing is quite unknown.
Some of the Rabbins who are unable to
deny that the reported miracles of Christ
Swere actually wrought, declare that he
accomplished them by accidentally gain
ing possession of parchment in which
AThe Name" was fully written, and which
thus conferred upon its owner extraordi-
nary aud supernatural powers. Whether
previously written or not it must have been
80 recorded when Jerusalem fell, for we
learn of individuals who preserved the
true pronunciation for many centuries.
Josephus, in his aAntiquities," speaks OF
the name, but says that it would be un-
7awfui for him to explain it.
The Jewish Mishna speaks OF jew
pamGd Kamzsr, who was aware OF the
sound OF the letters. In fact a. late as
the year 1850 the Orientalist Leusden
met Jew at Amsterdam who professed
20 be able to utter them correctly. His
ramil y, he said, had preserved the tradi-
fiona pronunciation by means OF writing.
Ieus dem offered the man a large sum Of
none = If he would utter the word just
Dnce, and his Offer wss accepted; but